Honorary graduates

Since 1966, the University of Surrey has bestowed honorary degrees on notable individuals who have made a significant contribution within their field and to society.

2025

Doctor of the University

2024

Doctor of the University

  • Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock DBE
  • Professor Richard Ellis CBE FRS
  • Dr Jim Glover OBE DL
  • Professor Chennupati Jagadish
  • Professor Charles Okeahalam

2023

Doctor of the University

2022

Doctor of the University

  • Michael Ball, OBE
  • Dame Glynis Breakwell, DBE DL FRSA FAcSS
  • Andrew Jennings, OBE
  • Rector Federica Mogherini
  • Ernest Wong

Fellowship of the University

  • Dr Malcolm Parry, OBE
  • Dr Katie Perry
  • Ian Ricketts
  • Sue Sjuve

2021

Doctor of the University

  • Youngsuk Chi
  • Professor Sarah Cleaveland
  • Professor Dame Jane Dacre
  • Lady Brenda Hale, DBE, PC, FBA
  • Professor Steven Myint
  • Keith Robson
  • Professor Peter Sadler
  • Professor Sir Steve Smith
  • Alberto Verme
  • The Rt Revd and the Rt Hon The Lord (Rowan) Williams of Oystermouth
  • Dr Ya-Qin Zhang

Fellowship of the University

  • Gavin Stephens

2019

  • Rt Hon Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, DL
  • Professor Dame Sue Hill, OBE
  • Dr Sylvia Lancaster, OBE
  • Professor Christopher Lowe, OBE
  • Ms Odaline de la Martinez
  • Professor Paul Wellings, CBE

2018

  • Mr Brian Allison
  • Professor Dame Anne Glover
  • Mr Ashley Herman
  • Ms Perdita Hunt, OBE
  • Mr Paul Polman, KBE
  • Dr Jamie Shea

2017

  • Mr Liam Heath, MBE
  • Professor Sir Jim McDonald
  • Mr Kevin McGrath, OBE, DL
  • Mr Nick Moberly
  • The Rt. Hon. the Lord Willetts

2016

  • Dr John Forrest, CBE
  • Professor John Picket, CBE
  • Professor Sir Christopher Snowden, FRS, FIET 

2015

  • Mr Thomas Chambers
  • Mr Dudley Eustace
  • Professor Peter Flewitt
  • Ms Dame Judith Hackitt, DBE
  • The Rt Revd Christopher Hill
  • Colonel Philippe Rossiter
  • His Excellency Mr Ahmet Üzümc

2014

  • Mr Neil Chapman
  • Professor Dame Sally Davies
  • Nikolai Dimidenko
  • Mr Geoff Loane
  • Dr Ann Prentice, OBE
  • Sir Richard Stilgoe, OBE DL
  • Sir William Wells

2013

  • Professor Adnei Melges de Andrade
  • Dr Richard Budgett, OBE
  • Mr Michael Buerk
  • Professor Gordon Murray, CBE
  • Mr Christopher Rodrigues, CBE
  • Mr Paul Sheffield, CBE
  • Professor Walter Stahel
  • Mr Colin Stokes
  • Mr Max Taylor

2012

  • Professor Alf Adams
  • Professor Hussain Al-Shahristani
  • The Right Reverend Dr Jonathan Frost
  • Mr Michael Glover, OBE
  • Mr Robert Lainé
  • The Very Reverend Victor Stock
  • Ms Sandi Toksvig, OBE
  • Professor Lord Robert Winston

2011

  • Sir Michael Aaronson, CBE
  • Mr Roger Black, MBE
  • Professor Andrew Hamilton
  • Lady Diana Kerr
  • Professor John Sexton
  • Dr Graham Spittle, CBE
  • Mr John Williams

2010

  • His Honour John Bull, QC DL
  • Dame Linda Dobbs, DBE
  • Mr Peter Hutley, OBE
  • Mr David Sheard
  • Sir Adrian White, CBE

2009

  • Miss Vicki Aggar
  • Professor Peter Bunyan
  • Mr Martin Earwicker
  • Professor Noel Fitzpatrick
  • Mr Elon Musk
  • Mr Jonny Wilkinson, OBE

2008

  • Mr Arie de Geus
  • Professor Richard F Casten
  • drs Jan Derwig
  • Professor Jean Hooper, CBE
  • Mr Neil James Kipling
  • Sir George Martin, CBE
  • Mr James (Jimmy) Patrick Page, OBE
  • Sir Ray Tindle, CBE, DL

2007

  • Mr Thomas Joseph Black
  • The Rt Hon the Lord Browne of Madingley
  • Mr Peter Molyneux, OBE
  • Mrs Claire Rayner, OBE       
  • Mr James Douglas Moir Robertson, CBE
  • Lord Sainsbury of Turville
  • Sir David Varney

2006

  • Professor Patrick Dowling, CBE
  • Mrs Janet Gaymer, CBE
  • Professor Jerrold Marsden

2005

  • Bhikhu Chhotalal Parekh
  • Professor Michael Gibbons, MBE
  • Sir Harold Kroto
  • Dr Ernest Littauer
  • Alec James Stewart, OBE
  • Professor David Wood

2004

  • Sir David Martin Brown, FREng
  • Professor Roger Howard Clarke
  • Terry Gilliam
  • Lennart Meri
  • Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan
  • Sir Daniel Norton Idris Pearce, CBE, TD, DL
  • Derek John Thomas, CBE, DL

2003

  • Professor Michael Baker, TD, FRSE
  • Mary Baker, MBE
  • The Hon Judge David Edward, CMG, QC, FRSE
  • Gerald O’Collins SJ
  • Professor Otto Pick, CMG
  • Philip Pullman
  • Lord Puttnam of Queensgate, CBE

2002

  • Brian William Alderson
  • Dr Robert Hawley, CBE
  • Dr Alan Hayes, CBE
  • Dame Penelope Keith, DBE, DL
  • H.E. Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, STL, PhL
  • Peter Saraga
  • Professor John Sutherland

2001

  • Sir Eric Ash, CBE. FREng, FRS
  • Professor Anthony Cragg
  • Jocelyn Herbert
  • Dr Michael Marland, CBE
  • Sir John Parker FREng FRINA FIMarE
  • Dr Andrew G Rickman, OBE

2000

  • Patrick Caulfield
  • Ron Dennis, CBE
  • Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, DBE, DL
  • Michael David Wheeler

1999

  • Professor Akito Arima
  • Professor Stephen Campbell Holt
  • Siobhan Davies, MBE
  • Mary Patricia McAleese
  • General Sir Rupert Smith, KCB DSO OBE QGM
  • Sir Richard Sykes, DSc FRS
  • Dr John Michael Taylor, OBE FREng

1998

  • Dr Paul Bélanger
  • Mr Peter Kenneth Blair, OBE FREng
  • Dr Sam Ramsamy

1997

  • Iona Margaret Balfour Opie
  • Marilyn Speers Butler
  • Sir Rocco Forte
  • Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie
  • Mr Ivor Forbes Guest
  • Rt Rev John Jukes
  • Trevor McDonald, OBE
  • David Terence Miller
  • Professor Ernst-Ulrich Schlünder
  • Nicholas Andrew Serota
  • Mr Nabil Mohammed Shaban
  • Sir John Meurig Thomas, ScD, FRS

1996

  • Professor Patrick Boulter, FRCSE, FRCS
  • Professor Sir David Davies, CBE, FREng, FRS
  • Dame Judith Olivia Dench, CH DBE FRSA
  • Monica Mason
  • The Rt Hon Baron Nolan of Brasted

1995

  • The Rt Rev Michael Adie, CBE
  • Professor Rita R Colwell
  • Baroness Caroline Cox of Queensbury
  • Sir Diarmuid Downs, CBE, FRS
  • Baroness Perry of Southwark
  • Dr Cham Tao Soon

1994

  • Peter Bonfield, CBE FREng
  • Dr Peter Brinson
  • Professor Henry Chadwick
  • Bryan Hildrew, CBE FREng
  • Dr Zenon Jagodzinski   
  • Professor Anthony Kelly, CBE FREng FRS
  • Geoffrey Lomer, CBE FREng
  • Professor Peter Clifford McIntosh
  • Chikahisa Nagai
  • Dr Alan Rudge, OBE FREng FRS
  • Charles Sandbank, FREng
  • Professor Yasuharu Suematsu

1993

  • Professor David Burman Edgar
  • Elizabeth Esteve-Coll
  • Zena Oxlade CBE
  • Professor Kenneth Packer, FRS
  • Sir Austin William Pearce, CBE
  • Professor Roger Penrose, FRS
  • Dr Heinz Riesenhuber
  • Professor Alexander Shurbanov

1992

  • Richard John William Alston
  • The Very Rev Desmond Anthony Beirne
  • Professor Sushantha Kumar Bhattacharyya
  • His Eminence Cardinal (George) Basil Hume
  • Leonard John Kail
  • Academician Igor Semyonovich Kon
  • Professor Robert Anthony Bernard Leaper, CBE
  • Professor Claude Levy-Leboyer
  • Professor Howard Joseph Newby
  • Professor Alexander Michael Ross
  • Professor William Duncan Paterson Stewart

1991

  • Professor George Alfred Hugh Elton, CB
  • Professor Paul Joseph Black, OBE
  • Sir Charles Barnard Groves, CBE
  • Dr Carole Jordan FRS
  • The Lord Rayner of Crowborough
  • The Rt Rev & Rt Hon the Lord Runcie of Cuddesdon
  • Leonard John Weaver, CBE
  • Dr Gerhard Weiler

1990

  • John Stuart Bevan
  • Sir Walter Bodmer, FRS
  • Baroness Cumberlege of Newick, CBE
  • The Rev Dr Donald English
  • Sir Denis Rooke, CBE FRS FREng
  • Professor Jon Stallworthy
  • The Rt Hon Lord Wolfson of Marylebone

1989

  • Sir Geoffrey Allen, FRS
  • The Rt Hon Lord Cockfield of Dover
  • Sir Charles Hugh Reece

1988

  • Professor Ke Jun (Tsun Ko)
  • Sir Richard Anthony Meyjes
  • Brian Frederick Street
  • Sir Francis Leonard Tombs

1987

  • Bernard Albert Eastwell, OBE
  • Dr Kevin William Keohane, CBE
  • Sir John Emms Read
  • Henri Charles Vidal

1986

  • Anthony Alfred Caro, KB
  • Dr Ronald Frederick Coleman
  • Dr Desmond George King-Hele
  • Professor Sir William Macdonald Paton, CBE FRS

1985

  • Dr ir Hendrikus Ludovicus Beckers
  • Dennis Joseph Enright
  • Sir John Harvey-Jones, MBE
  • Samuel Curtis Johnson

1984

  • Professor Rosalinde Hurley
  • Robert Malpas, CBE FREng
  • Thomas Irvine Smith, OBE
  • Sir John Vane, FRS

1983

  • Sir Arnold Stanley Vincent Burgen, FRS
  • Viscount Etienne Davignon
  • Sir Ieuan Maddock, CB OBE FRS FREng
  • Sir Georg Solti, KBE

1982

  • John Eveleigh Bolton, CBE DSC
  • Professor Sir David Gwynne Evans, CBE FRS
  • John Royden Maddox
  • Sir David Alexander Orr, MC

1981

  • Dr Jack Birks, CBE
  • Sir Ernest Thomas Harrison, OBE
  • Dr Richard Hoggart

1980

  • Dr Duncan Sheppey Davies
  • Dr Eric Duckworth
  • Vernon Handley
  • Sir Francis Avery Jones, CBE

1979

  • Sir Henry Frederick Ross Catherwood
  • Professor Otto Gustaf Edholm
  • Sir George Robert Edwards, OM CBE FRS
  • Professor Reginald Victor Jones, CB CBE FRS
  • Sir Shridath Surendranath Ramphal, CMG

1978

  • Professor Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf
  • Sir Ralph Freeman, CBE
  • Professor William Valentine Mayneord, CBE FRS

1977

  • Sir Frederick Charles Frank, FRS
  • Elisabeth Frink, CBE
  • Sir Claus Adolf Moser Comdr de l'Ordre Nat Du Merite (Fr)
  • The Rt Hon Lord Robens of Woldingham

1976

  • Sir Kenneth George Corfield
  • Professor ThoroldDickinson, CBE
  • Dr Joseph Needham, FRS

1975

  • Sir Charles Forte
  • The Rt Hon Lord Gardiner of Kittisford
  • Dr Douglas Malcolm Aufrere Leggett
  • Sir Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell, OBE FRS
  • Sir Frederick Lincoln Ralphs
  • Lady Jackson, DBE (Barbara Ward)
  • Sir Ronald Wallace Wates
  • The Rt Hon Viscount Watkinson of Woking
  • LtCol Herbert James Wells, CBE MC

1974

  • Professor Sir Hermann Bondi, KCB FRS
  • Philip Sydney Henman
  • John William Penycate

1973

  • Yehudi Menuhin
  • Dr Rendel Sebastian Pease

1972

  • Professor Dennis Gabor, CBE FRS
  • Philip Victor Marchant
  • Dr Charles Garrett Williams

1971

  • Professor Stephane du Chateau
  • Sir Edward Fennessy, CBE
  • Sir Laurens Jan van der Post, CBE

1970

  • Professor Etienne Paul Grandjean
  • Professor Sir George Porter, FRS
  • The Rt Rev George Edmund Reindorp
  • Sir Ernest George Woodroofe

1969

  • Sir Harold Montague Finniston, FRS
  • Professor Sir Michael James Lighthill, FRS
  • Dr Arthur Douglas Merriman, GC OBE
  • Dr Edward John Victor Pasmore, CBE
  • Dr Beatrice Shilling, OBE

1968

  • Julian Bream, OBE
  • Professor Joseph Cathala Officier Legion d'Honneur
  • Professor Carl Hirsh
  • Sir William Houghton
  • Dr Francis Edgar Jones, MBE FRS
  • Rt Hon the Lord Nugent of Guildford
  • Lady Ruth Nugent
  • Professor Sir Alfred Grenville Pugsley, OBE FRS   
  • Sidney Frank Rich, OBE
  • Dr Ralph Winton West, CBE (Posthumous)

1966

  • Sir John Adams, CMG FRS
  • Austen Harry Albu
  • Sir Leon Bagrit
  • Sir Alec Issigonis, CBE
  • The Rt Hon the Earl of Munster, KBE
  • Dame Sybil Thorndike, DBE